"That is ROBBERY!!!!"

[LadyAndreca]

Ours was making our parents buy the books. Which my parents in turn passed on to us kids. My parents were stingy with allowances, too--a cheap textbook would've taken two whole quarters to pay off if I'd damaged it! That's a long time with no allowance!

[bainsidhe]

Aren't these things something like 50 cents or a buck at your local Hell-Mart? Then the answer is obvious, go there.

[persephone]

We used to do the paper grocery bag thing too and I loved it. By the end of the year my books were covered in sketches and writing and there was no doubt they were mine! Daughter and Son will use them too

[BookstoreEscapee]

It's BTS time again, which means selling lots of useless junk like Book Sox.

I was in B&N last weekend...they have scratch 'n sniff book socks now.

As for the customer...whatever happened to paper grocery bags? Don't know if they still do it, but when I was a kid, around back to school time they usually had the instructions for turning them into a book cover printed right on them. Besides, paper covers are more fun cuz you can doodle on 'em. I suck at actually doing them, for some reason, though. I never understood why I couldn't do it but it always ended in tears and my mom would end up doing it for me.

I do own a fabric book cover, which I bought when I still worked in the store and was able to borrow hardcover books. We had to leave the jacket in the store, so I got the cover to avoid damaging the books I borrowed so I wouldn't end up having to pay for them.

And I never, ever used book covers, nor have I met anyone in school who does. I honestly didn't realize they were so widespread until I really paid attention around BTS time. So clearly they're not required for academic success. And no, you can't see my GPA! Trust me. It- it's not the book covers.

We were always required to cover books within X days of the start of school. I don't know what the consequences were if we didn't do it, though.

But some schools around here require the fabric covers, as environmentally-unfriendly as they are. (We used paper grocery bags when I was in school, but times have changed.)

I think I would have to have a chat with the teacher on that one, if I were a parent. I totally understand the reason for covering books, but requiring people to actually spend money on it is a little much, in my opinion. Brown paper bags, or some inexpensive heavy paper from an art supply store should be sufficient.

[Food Lady]

My chemistry cover had a drawing of a guy in a lab coat tossing a chemical from one flask to another. The back cover had the same guy in a tattered coat, holding broken flasks, charred and burned. Sadly, it got thrown away.

I love it! You're brilliant.

[evilhomer]

Eleventy!!!11!!! is when somebody gets over excited and forgets to press the shift key and gets 11 when making exclamation points. It's usually for over-dramatic expressions like this particular SC the OP was talking about.

Sometimes I wonder how kids like the SC's daughter come out so good from such parents like that SC.

Oh, my bad. I thought it was a quote of something this moron had actually said. That explanation makes a lot more sense.

[DGoddessChardonnay]

My parents always used plain brown paper bags to cover the books. Then we'd write the name of the book on the front and then I'd get to decorate the cover any way I'd want to.

I used Contact paper with the backing still on for my textbooks and binders (the ones I used outside of the Trapper Keepers) when I was in school.

Come to think of it, I still have several binders that I covered in a cute blue/pink cat print from years ago . . .